Half Beatles press conference

 

April 3, 2009

Mad Mel Returns

 

Here are the Beatles at a press conference in Portland, Oregon, in 1965.  That guy in the striped shirt and big sunglasses is none other than Mad Mel,  the Australian disc jockey who orchestrated the knitting of a huge scarf that he presented to The Beatles during their tour of Australia.  You can read the story about that here. 

When I saw these photos the other day, I was confused about why Mad Mel would be at a Portland Beatles press conference.   I discovered that in 1965, Mel left Australia and was a DJ at CFUN in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada).    Portland would have been the closest town to Vancouver to have a Beatles concert that year.   Since Mel had a friendly relationship with the Beatles, it makes sense that CFUN would send him down to Oregon to attend the press conference.  He must not have spent too much time in Canada because I read that Mel was back on air in Australia by the end of the decade.  It is believed that Mad Mel still lives in Sydney.  As far as I know, he hasn't been interviewed about his time with The Beatles.  Hopefully I am wrong and the book about the Beatles in Australia that is supposed to be published this year will give us more information about this interesting disc jockey and his Beatle connection. 

George, Paul, John and Ringo

 

Get up here Paul

 

Miami press conference

February 13, 1964

 

Lennon, Taylor, & McCartney

 

Beattle in Seattle

 

Another one in George's photo album

 

The almost Fab 4

 

Standing with Ringo

 

Interview with George Harrison

 Interview with George Harrison

Beetle Magazine (1974)

The following is a transcript of George Harrison’s L.A. press conference given shortly before he embarked on his North American tour.  Out of those of you who saw him perform, some may have been elated, some disappointed and others merely interested in what an ex-Beatle looked like.  One thing we all know now is that Geoge sure ain’t the fab four in another incarnation.  He doesn’t want to be.  So what does he want?  Find out in retrospect.  Maybe it’ll shed a little light on what you saw, or didn’t see.

 

Q:  Why did you decide to return to America?

George:  I’ve been back here many times.  This is the first time I ‘ve been back to work, but it’s the first time I’ve had a H-1 visa since ’71.

Q:  What was the reason for not having the H-1?

George:  I had the same problem as John Lennon.  I was busted for marijuana way back in ’67 [sic]by Sergeant Pilcher who was in jail for six years for planting dope on people.

Q:  Would you ever consider touring Mexico?

George:  I wouldn’t mind.  I just believe there’s a bunch of loonies.  I mean I would go anywhere.  This is really a test, I either finish this tour ecstatically happy and I want to go on tour everywhere or I’ll end up just going back to my cave again for another five years.

 

Q:  Looking back, what do you consider so far the crowning glory of your career as a musician?

George:  As a musician, I don’t think I’ve got that yet, as an individual, just being able to sit here today, and be relatively sane.  That’s probably the biggest accomplishment to date.

Q:  What is the possibility that you and the rest of The Beatles will join together and become The Beatles again?

George:  It’s a very slim possibility at the moment, everybody’s enjoying being individuals.  We were boxed up together for ten years, and personally, I’m enjoying playing with this band.

Q:  You said in your bio in ’64 that meeting The Beatles was one of the biggest breaks in your musical life, in ’74 you said leaving The Beatles.

George:  I mean the biggest break in ’63 was meeting The Beatles, the biggest break since then, I mean in retrospect, was getting out of them.

Q:  George, could you tell us your feelings and expectations for the upcoming tour?

George:  I think if I had more time I’d be panic-stricken, but I don’t really have time to get worried about it.

Q:  Is there any reason why Keltner, Clapton and Voormann didn’t accompany you?

George:  Oh well, I mean Eric’s out on his own.  Klaus has been living in America so I haven’t seen him all year, and during that time I met Andy Numark and Willy Weeks.  It’s just a time for a change.

Q:  Why would they perform on an album and not a concert?

George:  They performed on the tracks on the album because they were there at the time, I didn’t meet Willy Weeks and Andy Numark, they’re bass and drums, until about July this year.

Q:  Are you getting divorced?

George:  No, I mean that’s as silly as marriage.

Q:  Allen Klein is suing The Beatles.  How is that affecting you?  Do you have to sell more albums now?

George:  No. No.  To tell you the truth there’s a whole lot of money which is in receivership since Paul McCartney sued us and actually it’s fortunate that he did sue us, because the money’s in receivership so at least nobody can spend it.  There’s a lot of millions of dollars form The Beatles partnership and we either give it to the lawyers or we give it to the revenue.

Q:  how do you see the role of the entertainer as concerned with causes and charities?

George:  Well, I don’t think that has any relation to cause and charities.  I don’t think that’s just particularly an entertainer’s job.  I think it’s up to each individual to do what he can.  I do what I can and I can do it through music, but I don’t think it’s particularly just isolated to musicians.

Q:  What are you hopes for Dark Horse records?

George:  I want it to be reasonably small.  To tell you the truth, I’ve been here just over a week and if I signed all the people who gave me tapes I’d be bigger than RCA, but fortunately I don’t’ have time to listen to them.

Q:  I’m writing for Womens Pages and you are married.  May I ask you?  Does your wife cook for you?

George:  First of all, I don’t have a wife anymore, so, but even when I did, she used to cook sometimes and I learned how to cook myself.  I cooked vegetarian Indian food.  Although I like other food as well, I’m a vegetarian.  I don’t eat fish.  I don’t’ eat chicken and I don’t’ eat meat.  That’s why I’m so pale and thin.

Q:  Are sales down for the concerts and all that?

George:  Oh no.

Q:  What’s your relationship with John and Paul?

George:  It’s very good actually.

Q:  Do you see them often?

George:  I haven’t seen John ‘cause he’s been in the States, although I’ve spoken to him quite a lot on the telephone and he sounds to me like he’s in great shape.  It’s as if we’ve gone right round the cycle and we’re back at the beginning again.  I just met Paul recently and he’s…    everybody’s really very very friendly.  But it doesn’t really mean we’re going to form a band.

Q:  Will the publicity from your tour lead to the re-release of Raga?

George:  I’m not too sure if it ever even got released, you know, complete…it may do, it depends on people’s interest.  The problem is with people who distribute movies.  It’s very difficult to get a look in there…the film industry, this is my personal opinion, needs a kick in the behind because it’s got too much control by people who own the theatres, who own the distribution networks, it’s like if you don’t work on Maggie’s farm you don’t get your movie on, y’know?

Q:  Can you still meditate?

George:  It’s too difficult a question to answer really because…I must say there’s a state of consciousness which is the goal of everybody…I haven’t sat down and done meditation like that for some time but at the same time I constantly think of the Lord in one fashion on another and so that’s really my thing is just to remember and to try to see him within all of you and that feeling itself is a meditation.

Q:  Can you foresee a time when you’ll give up musical objectives?

George:  I can see a time when I’d give up this sort of madness, but music, I mean everything is based upon music, I’ll never stop me music.

Q:  There’s a paradox there between lifestyles.

George:  It is difficult, yeah, but the point is it’s also like good practice in a way.  As they say ‘to be in the world, but not of the world.’  You can go through the Himalayas and miss it completely and you can be stuck in the middle of New York and be very spiritual.  I mean I noticed in certain places, like New York, it brings out a certain thing in myself.  If I go someplace like Switzerland, I find a lot of uptight people there because they’re living amongst so much beauty that there’s no urgency in trying to find the beauty within themselves.  If you’re stuck in New York you have to somehow look within yourself otherwise you go crackers.  So, in a way, it’s good to be able to go in and out of both situations.  Most people think when the world gets itself together, we’ll all be okay.  I don’t’ see that situation arriving. I think, one by one, we all free ourselves from the chains that we ourselves have chained ourselves to.  But I don’t think that suddenly some magic happens and the whole of us is all liberated in one throw.

Q:  What direction is your music going now?

George:  Haven’t got a clue. I mean it’s getting a bit funkier, especially with Willy Weeks and all them.

Q:  Do you pay attention to what the critics say?

George:  Oh, I canceled all my newspapers five years ago, to tell you the truth, so I don’t really know what people say.  If I do see a review of an album I’ll read it although it doesn’t really  make too much difference what they say because I am what I am whether they like it or not, y’know.

Q:  Are you ever amazed by how much The Beatles still mean to people today?

George:  Not really.  I mean I realize The Beatles did fill a space in the sixties and all the people The Beatles meant something to are all grown up now.  It’s like anything you grow up with, you get attached to it.  I mean, that’s one of the problems in our lives, become attached to things.  I can understand The Beatles, in many ways, did nice things and it’s just appreciated that people still like them.  The problem comes when they want to live in the past and they want to hold onto something.  People are afraid of change.

Q:  Would you ever want to live permanently in India?

George:  Yes.

Q:  When?

George:  When I get through with all this madness.  There’s a word that’s called karma and it means that whatever we are now we cause by our previous actions.  Whatever is going to be in the future is what we cause by our actions now.  I’d like to be able to cause my actions to lead me to end up sometime in India.

Q:  Who are some of the contemporary artists that you admire most?

George:  There’s so many…Smokey Robinson.  I am madly in love with Smokey Robinson.  To try to pick one or two. I mean Smokey Robinson is my favorite.  I like Dicky Betts.  There’s a lot of guitar players, Ry Cooder I think is sensational.

Q:  What about the big groups like the Rolling Stones?

George:  The Stones, yeah, they’re fine…y’know…they’re nice.  I like the Stones.   I think variety’s the spice of life.

Q:  Are you involved in any series negotiations to get the Beatles back together for one night?

George:  No.  No..you been reading Rolling Stone.  I thought the 50 million for one shot…after reading that I was a bit disappointed at Bill Graham saying he could make us 4 million especially as Crosby, Still, Nash and Young made 8.  I mean sure we could make more than that.  The point is, it’s all a fantasy the idea of putting The Beatles together again.  If we ever do that, I’ll tell you, the reason will be that everybody’s broke.  And even then, to play with The Beatles, I’d rather have Willy Weeks on bass than Paul McCartney.  That’s the truth, with all respect to Paul, the Beatles was like being in a box, it’s taken years after being out of The Beatles to get to play with other musicians ‘cause we were so isolated together.  It became very difficult playing the same old tunes day in, day out.  Since I made All Thing Must Pass, it was so nice for me to be able to play with other musicians, I don’t think The Beatles are that good.  I mean, they’re fine…fine.  Ringo’s got the best backbeat I’ve ever heard and he’ll play a great backbeat 24 hours a day.  He hated drum solos.  Paul is a fine bass player, he’s a little overpowering at times, and John has gone through his scene, but it feels to me like he’s come around, and we’re all at the point.  I mean, to tell you the truth, I’d join a band with John Lennon anyday, but I couldn’t join a band with Paul McCartney, but that’s nothing personal.  It’s just from a musical point of view.

Q:  What do you think of Lennon’s solo material?

George:  His new record I think’s lovely.

Q:  How is it you don’t want to do personal interviews?

George:  There’s nothing to say, really I’m a musician, I’m not a talker.  I mean, if you just get my album, it’s like Peyton Place, it’ll tell you exactly what I’ve been doing.

Q:  Did you do a musical rebuttal to Layla on that album?

George:  What do you mean musical rebuttal?  I mean that sounds nasty, don’t it?  I like to sort that one out.  I love Eric Clapton. He’s been a close friend for years.  I’m very happy, y’know, about it.  I’m very friendly with them.  Sure.

Q:  Why are you happy about it?

George:  Because he’s great.  I’d rather she was with him than some dope.

Q:  Is it conceivable you could get together the Beatles to generate some money for charity?

George:  Well, if you’re a promoter I’d say no.  I wouldn’t rule anything out in life.  People think we plan, ooo, we don’t plan anything, it’s all at the mercy of the Lord and I’m sorry to keep talking about Lord to y’all, but he’s there, I have experienced something in my life and I know he’s there.

Q:  What’s your attitude about drugs now?

George:  Drugs!  What drugs? Aspirins or what are you talking about?  I mean I think it’s awful when it ruins people. It’d be the same as it was ten years ago.  What do you define as a drug and what isn’t?  Like whiskey?  I don’t want to advocate it all because it’s so difficult to get into America, y’know?

Q:  You said you had an experience which made you believe in the Lord.  Was this a specific experience?

George:  Just certain things happened in my life which left me thinking “What it all about Alfie?”  and I just remembered Jesus said somewhere ‘knock and the door will be opened’ and I said (knock, knock) hellooo.  It’s very difficult.  From the Hindu point of view each soul is potentially divine, the goal is to manifest the divinity.  I mean yoga.  The word ‘yoga’ means union and the union is supposedly between the mind, the body and the spirit and yoga isn’t lying on nails or just standing on your head.  I mean there’s all various forms of yoga and they’re all branches on one big tree and the Lord or God has got a million names, whatever you want to call Him, it doesn’t matter as long as you call him.  Jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want.  Nobody tries anything.  Going back to self-realization, one guru said he found no separation between man and God saving man’s spiritual unadventurous, and that’s the catch, everybody’s so unadventurous.  We’re all condition, our consciousness has been so polluted with material energy that it’s hard to try and pull it all away in order to really get at our true nature.  It’s like everyone of us has within us a drop of that ocean and we have the same qualities as God, just like a drop of the ocean has the same qualities as the whole ocean.  Everybody’s looking for something, we are it.  We don’t’ have to look anywhere, it’s right there within ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John's new toy

 

Brian, George, Paul and Tony

 

John answers

 

Lucky Contest winner meets The Beatles

 

The quiet one had something important to say

 

Lennon-Taylor-McCartney

 Paul and John were probably happy to see Derek at this press conference because they know that Derek knew how to handle the press.  

Charming the press

 

Another town ---another press conference

 

Charles O. Finley